The Best TV Shows to Binge Right Now on Netflix

Sometimes you just want to watch 10 hours of TV, whether it's an edge-of-your-seat mystery or a feel-good romantic comedy, and we've got you covered with this round-up of the streaming service's most bingeable series.

From the classics you really should have seen by now to your friends' current favorites, get some snacks ready and prepare for a marathon.

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3% (2016- )

If you relish the dystopian drama of The 100, The Hunger Games, or other narratives about attractive people living under unattractive regimes, then this Brazilian Netflix original is for you. The hook of 3% is simple: The world is divided between a world of wealth called the Offshore and a world of poverty called the Inland. (Sounds familiar, right?) The Elysium-like premise is explored with real emotional depth, and director César Charlone, the cinematographer responsible for City of God's stunning visuals, shoots everything with a gritty glow.

The 4400 (2004-2007)

Produced by The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, this underrated sci-fi series imagines what would happen if 4,400 people suddenly vanished from the face of the planet in the early 20th century... then flashed back into reality decades later. The mystery unfolds through the eyes of some superlative performances, including newly minted Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali as a US Air Force pilot who disappeared but somehow has a daughter in the present.

Aggretsuko (2018)

This unlikely Sanrio-sponsored anime series totally succeeds as a standalone project from the branding that might otherwise subsume Aggretsuko, the super-cute red raccoon character who blows off steam from her shitty job by doing death metal karaoke. For anyone who's held down a clock-watching, 9-to-5 office gig, you'll root for Aggretsuko when she tells off her boss at an off-site drinking event, empathize with her when she falls into dating a schlubby guy around the office, and headbang during her solo karaoke sets.

Altered Carbon (2018- )

Adapted from the 2002 Richard K. Morgan novel of the same name, Altered Carbon is a flashy, jargon-y, and, at times, dizzying descent into sci-fi decadence. The show follows a 22nd-century mercenary (Joel Kinnaman) who's hired to solve the murder of a highly influential aristocrat. The catch? Said aristocrat is still alive, because in this version of the future, the wealthy can't really die -- instead, their consciousness is essentially uploaded to the cloud and downloaded into new bodies. In a world without death, the ensuing caper boasts the same jaw-dropping visuals and world-building as Blade Runner and the same thought-provoking intrigue as HBO's Westworld. And over the course of 10 episodes, what looks like a complicated murder mystery detours as a complicated love story and a complicated look at social stratification. In other words, showrunner Laeta Kalogridis packs A LOT to digest in here, but that means there's A LOT to appreciate if you're patient. Though it takes a few episodes for Altered Carbon's dense story to really take off, it's an ambitious ride that's well worth sticking around for. In fact, we can't wait to see more.

American Crime (2015- )

Like its completely unaffiliated basic-cable contemporary American Crime Story, this ABC anthology series uses a repertory-style cast to tell a different story each season. But rather than focusing on a celebrity-driven or headline-making case each time, like The People v. O.J. Simpson, writer and director John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) trots out an original story. If you prefer your social consciousness fictionalized, this is the heart-wrenching, family-oriented show to check out next.

Arrested Development (2003- )

There's always money in the banana stand, and there are always laughs to be found in Arrested Development, Mitchell Hurwitz's sly, self-aware family sitcom. While the most recent Netflix-produced season occasionally devolved into discursive, indulgent meta-humor, the show's original three seasons established a freewheeling comic sensibility that many of your favorite sitcoms -- Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Community, Archer, Kroll Show -- were influenced by. Don't hold the show's obnoxious fans against it. After watching a few episodes, you'll be quoting Tobias Fünke, too.

Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015- )

If you're a fan of the original Evil Dead trilogy and haven't seen Ash vs. Evil Dead yet, what have you even been doing with your spare time? Set 30 years after Army of Darkness, when the Deadites were neutralized, the demon curse of the Necronomicon is back, baby, and it's up to our skeezy hero Ash Williams (still Bruce Campbell) to do the thing he does best, which is cutting up the possessed. Sam Raimi and crew bring the same dark humor and over-the-top gore to the revived series that's just entering its third season on Starz, but is thankfully also on a streaming service people actually use.

Bates Motel (2013-2017)

Ever wonder what Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho fame was up to before his psychosis culminated in the horror classic? Well, he wasn’t up to anything good and his life as a teenage psychopath with serious mommy issues is documented in this thrilling drama. From first acquiring the notorious motel to his first kill, over the course of five seasons there’s never a dull moment between Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his twisted mother played by a dynamically haunting Vera Farmiga.

Being Mary Jane (2013- )

Mara Brock Akil's rom-dram stars the ageless Gabrielle Union as a single 30-something TV news anchor trying to juggle her intense professional ambitions with her needy family and a steamy sex life. Mary Jane embraces its contradictions: it's soapy as all get-out, with nonsensical plotlines involving the acquisition of an ex-lover's sperm, while still confronting race and gender issues head-on.

Black Mirror (2011- )

Each installment of Charlie Brooker's addicting anthology takes a current techno-social phenomenon -- topics that range from hashtags to five-star ratings -- to its extreme and asks whether human nature can coexist with it. Part satire and part (unintentional) prophecy, the series presents an appropriately grim view of the future, one that will definitely make you worry for the next generation and maybe even galvanize you into action. Binge this delicious platter of paranoia cautiously.

Bodyguard (2018- )

This action-packed British thriller will have you gasping for air after each of its six episodes. Richard Madden (Game of Thrones) stars as David Budd, a war veteran and member of the Protection Command tasked with serving as the personal bodyguard of Britain's Home Secretary, Julia Montague (Keeley Hawes). Various conspiracies and personal relationships intersect at a dizzying rate in a story that's about the various ways in which power is used and abused in contemporary Western society.

Netflix

BoJack Horseman (2014- )

It's a goofy animated comedy unlike those that came before it -- a middle-aged man (read: horse) consistently struggles to stay out of trouble while dealing with the downside of fame. Though you'd be hard-pressed to come across any moment in the series that isn't a side-splitting one, BoJack Horseman also boasts some surprisingly dark and emotionally ambitious moments that'll hook you from beginning to end.

The Break with Michelle Wolf (2018)

Even though Netflix decided to cancel The Break after the first season -- before the show's schtick even had a chance -- the newsy single season that remains on the streaming service will be worth revisiting for a while to come. The writing smacks with its alt-humor (and wouldn't you know, some former Clickhole folks were on the writing staff) and takes a decidedly leftist political stance, which is a breath of fresh air from other talk shows that pretend they're seeing things from all sides.

Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Despite originally airing on AMC, Breaking Bad is the ultimate Netflix show. Filled with moments of shocking violence and wry humor, the rise and fall of Walter White (Bryan Cranston) -- and his co-conspirators Jesse, Skyler, Gus, and Mike -- is probably best experienced in wild, indulgent weekend binges. That's what many fans did throughout the show's five-season run, catching up on old episodes on Netflix to prepare for the must-see moments that occurred during its final stretch. With the acclaimed spinoff Better Call Saul now inspiring similar conversations, there's never been a better time to take the dive. You don't just watch this show; it consumes you.

Broadchurch (2013-2017)

The murder of a young boy stirs up a media frenzy and divides a tight-knit English coastal town, and the proper order of things is further disrupted by the unfiltered hotshot inspector (David Tennant) who arrives just in time to take on the baffling crime and vex a local detective (Olivia Colman) who wanted his job. The episodes of all three seasons mix in the main protagonists' complex personal lives with the well-paced investigation, ensuring that Broadchurch unfurls in a way that'll have you texting your friends to say, "I'm too sick to go out tonight" and automatically clicking "Next Episode."

Cheers (1982-1993)

For the days when you want to hang out at the bar without changing out of pajamas. Starring Ted Danson as the ex-Red Soxxer and reformed alcoholic slinging drinks, Cheers, too, had a very long run -- 271 episodes! -- so you'll invest a ton of time if you're a completist, but luckily, you'll feel like a regular in no time.

Chef's Table (2015- )

With an explosion of food television comes elevated standards; Netflix's Chef's Table forages for those standards, brings them to the restaurant for dinner service, treats them with respect, turns them into a whimsical play on a dish remembered from childhood, and earns a couple Michelin stars and the admiration of its peers in the process. The point is that Chef's Table, from creator David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi), is an exceptional food show that manages to make humans the centerpiece.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018- )

From the creator of Riverdale comes another Archie-adjacent series, only much witchier. You may remember Sabrina the Teenage Witch as the friendly, upbeat witch from ABC's TGIF lineup in the '90s, but in the new Netflix adaptation, the occult is far more present. The result is a dark, engaging showcase for Kiernan Shipka, and a Netflix hit that leaves us wanting more.

Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012- )

Jerry Seinfeld has a shitload of expensive cars lying around, so he decided to film himself giving other funny people rides in them. It's pretty entertaining! And after a run as Crackle's only viable original program, Seinfeld will take his talents later this year to the king of the streaming game (for now).

IFC

Comedy Bang! Bang! (2012-2016)

A few years after his podcast started airing, Scott Aukerman's popular talk show got the TV treatment. TV treatment here doesn't really mean adaptation, though; it means a platform to be fucking insane and hilariously surreal. Your favorite comedians (think Andy Daly, Sarah Silverman) hit Aukerman's couch with special guests (who range from Tony Hawk to Kevin Bacon to publicist extraordinaire Rodney Waber) to improv some magic, participate in off-the-wall bits, and make you ask, What the hell am I watching? -- in the best way.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015- )

Many armchair critics tried to dismiss former YouTube sensation Rachel Bloom's CW series for what they presumed to be a sexist title -- a notion she bites back at from the opening credits on. In fact, the series is quietly revolutionary, offering sharp yet subtle commentary about the way women treat each other and themselves, and casually featuring one of the most diverse casts on TV. CXG draws its rom-com antics from heroine Rebecca's compulsive behavior and past traumas, all while satirizing the conventions of musicals with song-and-dance numbers worthy of Sondheim. It's a downward spiral, for sure, but psychosis has never been this entertaining.

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Dark (2017- )

Dubbed the German version of Stranger Things, this foreign supernatural drama following a boy who goes missing is an absolute mind fuck. While the show sees comparisons to the Duffer Brothers’ ode to ‘80s sci-fi, Dark is in a league of its own, following several families each with secrets of their own as they deal with a disappearance that shakes their eerie German town and might be a hint to a greater looming threat. There’s a handful of twists and turns, time travel (and lots of it), and a terrifying feeling you can’t shake until you see the entire season through.

Dear White People (2017- )

Justin Simien's scorching send-up of post-racial America received the green light from Netflix for 10 30-minute episodes, with Logan Browning stepping in for Tessa Thompson. As in the movie, the streaming version follows a diverse group of students pushing back against discrimination at a mostly white Ivy League school. Contrary to what the trolls want you to believe, Simien's work is not white-genocide propaganda; it's an illuminating look at what equality means in the 21st century. As he's explained already, "I'm a storyteller. My job isn't to protect your feelings. It's to show you who you are. Sometimes that will be joyful. Sometimes it'll hurt."

Disenchantment (2018- )

Be forewarned: Matt Groening's latest series is not like the others. It's doesn't try to be joke-for-joke funnier than The Simpsons, nor does it relegate the ventures of its own universe to singular episodes like Futurama. Disenchantment takes an episode or two to settle in, but once you've come around on the drunken shenanigans of Princess Bean (Broad City's Abbi Jacobson) and her unlikely sidekicks -- Elfo (Nat Faxon), a spacey, naive elf, and Luci (Eric Andre), a cat-like demon who curses Bean on her arranged wedding day -- prior expectations dissipate. Disenchantment is more like the streaming equivalent of The Princess Bride on mushrooms.

Documentary Now! (2015- )

IFC's Documentary Now! pokes fun at the precious self-seriousness of documentary filmmaking, thanks to SNL vets Bill Hader and Fred Armisen (and a regal Helen Mirren introduction). Docs in the show's crosshairs include everything from Nanook Revisited ("Kanuk Uncovered") to History of the Eagles ("Gentle & Soft: The Story of the Blue Jeans Committee"), the latter a parody of an Eagles documentary that's pretty funny in its own right. Which is why the true brilliance of Documentary Now! comes less from imitation and more from the same sauce that makes any doc memorable: Human existence is fascinatingly absurd.

Netflix

The End of the F***ing World (2017- )

Somehow, a show about a teenager who's convinced he's a psychopath and wants to find his first human kill manages to come off as a charming love and coming-of-age story. The tone demands a lot of the audience: Can you empathize with the human struggle of a kid who wants to kill, kill, kill? It's a compelling premise that tackles the question with necessary nuance.

Fauda (2015- )

Fauda, an action thriller about an elite team of undercover Israeli commandos working in Palestine, is perhaps the best of Netflix's recent foreign-language shows, a frantically paced and politically charged melodrama filled with sequences of white-knuckle suspense straight out of Homeland or 24. But unlike those spy dramas, Fauda spends nearly as much time on the private lives of Palestinians as it does on its gun-toting heroes. It's got a moral complexity that its more simplistic American counterparts often lack.

Fawlty Towers (1975; 1979)

Monty Python vet John Cleese teamed with then-wife Connie Booth to create Fawlty Towers, a legendary testament to the charms of British humor. The show centers on the lives of a comically inept and bad-tempered hotel owner and his wife, their employees, and the guests they inevitably alienate. If you like wacky comedy with intellectual sensibility, Fawlty Towers is a must-watch.

Frontier (2016 - )

A showcase for the charismatic brutality only Jason Momoa can muster, Frontier is a rollicking Netflix and Discovery Channel Canada co-production about the (literally) cutthroat 18th-century North American fur trade. The adventure series has more in common with breezy syndicated fare like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys than it does with Momoa's star-making Game of Thrones, but if you squint hard enough at the right moment you'll swear that it's Khal Drogo himself cutting off that poor sap's ear.

Netflix

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007; 2016)

In case you haven't heard, Netflix revived Gilmore Girls -- so you can catch up with this wisecracking mother-daughter duo before watching the four-episode follow-up. The show takes place in the quirky small town of Stars Hollow and features a dynamic supporting cast so fully fleshed, you'll feel like a local after your first hour. For extra credit, theGilmore Guys podcast dissects the series episode by episode, providing a present-day watercooler for your thoughts on a 17-year-old show.

Girlboss (2017)

Co-produced by Charlize Theron and helmed by Kay Cannon, this streaming series takes its name from Sophia Amoruso's memoir but fictionalizes the entrepreneur's rocky rise to the top. Britt Robertson plays Amoruso, the young shoplifter-turned-mogul who founded popular fashion retailer Nasty Gal. "It felt like every story was about a flawed man, which is totally fine," Cannon has said. "But I was really starving to create a story about a woman." Think something along the lines of Wolf of Wall Street. While Netflix ultimately canceled this series, we wholly recommend watching the self-contained first season, which tethers episodic joy into what ultimately feels like three feature-length films.

GLOW (2017- )

It's odd that it took so long for someone to make a fun comedy about professional wrestling. Where Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler turned the plight of a washed-up grappler into a Sisyphean struggle in spandex, GLOW, which was inspired by a real life wrestling women's wrestling promotion from the '80s, takes a sunnier but still no-holds-barred approach. Community's Alison Brie excels as an actress who gets cast by a washed-up filmmaker (Marc Maron) to play the villain in the rag-tag operation, but, like producer Jenji Kohan's Orange is the New Black, it's the side characters, like Britney Young's second-generation brawler Machu Picchu, who really help this show get over. It's one of the few pieces of pop culture that actually captures this "fake" sport's very real appeal.

The Good Place (2016- )

Created by Parks and Rec mastermind Michael Schur, this whimsical comedy sends the World's Most Selfish Woman, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell), to the afterlife. More specifically: the titular Good Place, something like heaven minus all the religious stuff. Things go swimmingly until Eleanor realizes she's been mistaken for someone else -- a glitch in the system that sends the utopia into a downward spiral. It's tons of fun seeing Bell and her onscreen soulmate Chidi (William Jackson Harper) try to fool everyone into believing this Eleanor can be a good person and deserves to stay. As we noted last year, "By the time you get to the incredible season finale, it's clear you've been sent straight up to TV heaven." Or, as Eleanor herself might put it: This show is forkin' good!

Grace and Frankie (2015- )

Netflix users of a certain age have likely overlooked this dramedy from Marta Kauffman (Friends) and Howard J. Morris (The Starter Wife), about two septuagenarian friends (Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) who shack up together after their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) announce they're in love and intend to marry. With notes of The Odd Couple and The Brady Bunch -- both couples have grown kids as equally knocked out by the news -- Grace and Frankie is down-to-earth viewing that's rich with observational wit on the progressive notion of being true to one's identity, and the time-worn cliche that everyone gets older with age. If you've indulged in the low-key, picture-perfect comedies of Nancy Meyers (It's Complicated, Something's Gotta Give), give this one a try.

PBS

Great British Baking Show (2010- )

If you still haven't indulged in this confectionary U.K. delight, clear enough room for a full-season binge. Hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, along with judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, mix charm and no-holds-barred cooking criticism as they navigate a sea of bakers vying to become the next masters of dough-proving, top-glazing, and edge-icing. There's something absolutely pure about Great British Baking Show, making it one of the nicest -- and we mean that as a plus -- reality shows ever to hit television.

Halt and Catch Fire (2014-2017)

Man, if you like how pseudo-psychotic, bold, and impossibly ahead-of-the-game Tom Hardy is on Taboo, you'll love Lee Pace on Halt and Catch Fire. Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers' period saga sends the actor to Texas in the '80s, where he plays a tech visionary hell-bent on disrupting the computer revolution. Along with a top engineer (Scoot McNairy), a prodigy (Mackenzie Davis), and his new employer -- Cardiff Electric -- Pace & Co. race to clone and tweak IBM's processor to make more efficient, portable PCs. Loosely inspired by Compaq's real-life IBM rivalry, Halt and Catch Fire delivers with complex character relationships and top-notch acting (shout-out to the always-underrated Toby Huss). Also, great music.

Hap and Leonard (2016- )

Writer-director Jim Mickle adapted Joe Lansdale's pulpy noir novel Cold in July before diving all in on adapting the author's rootin'-tootin' crime franchise. Hap Collins (James Purefoy) is an ex-con trying to make enough cash to stay afloat. Leonard Pine (Michael Kenneth Williams) is a gay black Vietnam vet with a short temper. Together they solve crimes -- and it never goes smoothly.

Happy Valley (2014- )

A police sergeant (Sarah Lancashire) is investigating the kidnapping of a local businessman's daughter by conspiring West Yorkshire locals; one of them is connected to the rape of her own daughter, who committed suicide eight years earlier. Tension builds at crime scenes and in familial moments, as Catherine swallows her suffering to parent her daughter's illegitimate son. The series leaves room for flawed characters to make mistakes: Catherine isn't Sherlock Holmes, nor are her culprits Moriarty types. On this show, murders happen by accident -- which is even scarier than premeditation.

The IT Crowd (2006-2013)

The traditional, "three-camera" stage sitcom can be done well. Cheers, Seinfeld, and Frasier all mastered it. But by the 2000s, the notion of shooting comedy in front of a live studio audience was all but dead -- at least in America. The IT Crowd, starring Chris O'Dowd (Bridesmaids), Richard Ayoade, and Katherine Parkinson as a lowly tech team residing in the basement of a major British corporation, proved there was still joy to bouncy dialogue and silly sight gags in a modern setting. Tremendously goofy and heartfelt, this show could easily replace hanging out with your actual friends.

The Keepers (2017)

True-crime docs are a dime a dozen these days, but The Keepers takes the genre to another level by dealing in both micro and macro layers of a story involving sexual abuse, murder, police corruption, and the Catholic Church. At its center is the strange disappearance and death in 1969 of a schoolteacher nun named Sister Cathy Cesnik, a case that continues to be investigated by her former students, who the filmmakers follow. Numerous shocking twists are revealed over the course of the seven-episode series, as the haunting mystery turns disturbing exposé and then circles back around again.

Netflix

Lady Dynamite (2016-2017)

Maria Bamford's semi-autobiographical, surreal spin on mental illness in Hollywood was a summer sleeper hit for Netflix. The comedian's self-aware hijinks share obvious DNA with Arrested Development: Mitch Hurwitz and Pam Brady are executive producers; there are sight gags, wordplay, and mockery of Los Angeles idiocy galore; and it features countless comedy-world cameos, extended fantasy sequences, and genuine self-introspection. It'll take you a few episodes to get invested, or even to wrap your head around WTF you're watching. But once you're hooked, you're hooked.

Law & Order: SVU (1999- )

Law and Order: SVU was designed for bingeing YEARS before on-demand streaming was invented, and while the original Law & Order was canceled in 2010, Special Victims Unit perfected the form and chugs along into its 18th season. Now that streaming is standard, you don't have to surf cable for a late-night insomnia salve or a hungover Sunday time-killer. You can drop in on Detectives Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson whenever you desire the simple satisfaction of fighting for justice in an unjust world.

Love (2016-2018)

Romantic comedies can often feel more like fantasy with their meet cutes and perfect endings rather than depicting an attainable relationship. Rather than falling into these tropes, Love, an aptly named Netflix original series, feels almost too real. The series with co-creator Judd Apatow at its helm follows two flawed individuals, addict and wise-cracking Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) and people pleasing Gus (Paul Rust), who organically meet and inevitably fall for each other despite being seemingly wrong for each other. With its Apatow antics, Love is equally smart and hilarious as it is raw, and you’ll find yourself rooting for these two fuck ups, watching episode after episode to see just how their fate as a couple ends up.

Luther (2010-2016)

Idris Elba looks really good in a suit. There are plenty of reasons to watch Luther, but The Wire actor's calming sartorial presence has to be what draws most fans into this psychologically rich British detective drama. The Affair's Ruth Wilson also impresses as Alice Morgan, a manipulative murderer who becomes an obsession for Elba's weary cop John Luther. It's a cat-and-mouse game worthy of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. Plus, the whole Idris Elba-in-suits thing.

Mad Men (2007-2015)

Matthew Weiner knew where it was all going from the start -- and the AMC show's creator even warned us in the third-season premiere, via a Don Draper line to Roger Sterling: "I keep going to a lot of places and ending up somewhere I've already been."

The series spans many eras as we travel throughout time: the 1960s change the people around Don, and the second half of the final season, set in 1970, is momentous. Betty confronts her own mortality. Peggy discovers that true independence isn't as clean-cut as she thinks. Pete breaks his life in two so that he can put it back together again.

And then there's Don Draper: well-meaning, self-destructive, creative genius Don Draper, who dreams big and falls hard over and over and over again. Mad Men asserted itself as the Great American Television Show by being hyper-specific -- designed down to the desk stapler -- and universally opaque. We’ll never stop talking about the ending, the beginning, and everything in between, so you'd better hurry up and get on our level if you're not already.

Netflix

Making a Murderer (2015)

What begins like a standard-issue Dateline episode about Steven Avery, a rural Wisconsin ne'er-do-well wrongfully convicted of rape, turns, over the course of its 10 episodes, into a sharp, twin rebuke of unchecked law enforcement and the entire criminal justice system.

As the documentary team behind this essential Netflix binge, which rivals The Staircase and Serial season 1 in its capacity to inspire righteous anger and rabbit-hole quests for the truth, details without exceeding skill, justice for Avery and his nephew, tragically swept up in the deplorable affair, has most definitely not been served. With season 2 now out on Netflix, prepare to be enraged all over again.

Manhunt: Unabomber (2017)

This eight-episode miniseries (which may or may not spawn follow-up series -- we'll see!) plays loose with the facts of the FBI Unabomber investigation and it won't teach you how to remember to spell Ted Kaczynski. But sometimes you just can't stop yourself from bingeing a nicely paced true-crime dramatization with unlikely actors in the crucial roles, like we have here with Avatar's Sam Worthington (as a dogged FBI agent who uses linguistics to track down the Unabomber), Avengers: Age of Ultron's Paul Bettany (as the hermetic, manifesto-writing mad bomber), and Party Down's Jane Lynch (as Janet Reno!).

Maniac (2018)

This trippy series, directed by True Detective Season 1 helmer Cary Joji Fukunaga, follows two troubled people who sign up for the trial of a drug that promises to be better than traditional talk therapy. Suffice to say things do not go as planned. Emma Stone and Jonah Hill star as the two guinea pigs, and their stories become increasingly intertwined as they float from dream world to dream world attempting to confront and destroy their inner demons. Much of it reads as nonsense, but it's beautifully shot and features a hilarious take on Freudian dynamics between Justin Theroux's Dr. James K. Mantleray and Sally Field's Dr. Greta Mantleray.

Master of None (2015- )

Netflix original Master of None is the perfect comedy for the "too much TV" era. Like a sampling platter at one of the hip restaurants Aziz Ansari's Dev likes to frequent, the show presents a series of familiar tropes -- showbiz satire, friends hanging out, family squabbles, a budding relationship -- without ever fully committing to one genre. Instead, Ansari and co-writer Alan Yang let their carefully honed comedic sensibility hold all of these disparate ideas together, moving elegantly between delightful absurdity (hello, PARO!) and melancholy self-reflection (goodbye, long-term relationships!) with ease.

Netflix

Mindhunter (2017- )

David Fincher loves serial killers. The director of Seven, Zodiac, and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo launched Netflix into the world of original television when he applied his dark, brooding aesthetic to a different kind of sociopath: obscenely ambitious politician Francis Underwood, focal point of House of Cards. But where House of Cards feels a bit like a desperate child crying out for attention -- "Look at me!" -- Mindhunter arrives fully mature, concerned more with exploring the depths of headlines already written than creating new ones. The show follows a young, self-assured FBI agent, Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff); his mentor, Bill Tench (Holt McCallany); and psychologist-turned-consultant Dr. Wendy Carr (Anna Torv) as they establish a division of the Bureau tasked with solving a "new kind of crime" that lacks what most law enforcers think of as rational motives. In short, they're inventing what will become the famous "FBI profiler" department, responsible for ferreting out criminal sociopaths, but Mindhunter's success arises from its ability to generate what serial killers lack: empathy and nuance. You feel not only for the agents and their decidedly second-priority romantic partners, but also for the killers, some of whom possess knife-edge intelligence and a caustic self-awareness, while others inspire near-instant revulsion. Add in the time-tested conventions of true crime mysteries, plus a steadfast unwillingness to write another FBI hagiography, and Mindhunter is highly bingeable, yet offers a depth that rewards slow-burn viewing.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return (2017- )

Could a new crew of comedians revive the effortless magic of public-acess-born Mystery Science Theater 3000. Absolutely. With the nerdy Jonah Ray (The Meltdownwith Jonah and Kumail) locked in the new spaceship, once again backed by Crow and Tom Servo (but with new voices, Hampton Yount and Baron Vaughn), spearheaded by former Daily Show head writer Elliot Kalan, and produced by original host Joel Hodgson, the new incarnation pelts jokes at late-night schlock and half-assed blockbusters with relentless force. There's a musicality to the jokes in MST3K: The Return, punctuating every bit of dead air in the god forsaken movie choices, and everyone is at the top of their game. "Cry Wilderness," about a little kid who pals around with Bigfoot, stands up to any of the classic episodes.

Nailed It! (2018- )

Your favorite bad-cooking competitionshow has a second season dropping in June, so you can settle in for another exciting season of non-chefs decidedly not nailing it. Dig in!

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Narcos (2015- )

This thriller is a treat for history buffs, unpacking the horrifying, drug-laden history of Colombia during the reign of legendary kingpin Pablo Escobar. As Escobar, Wagner Moura is both terrifying and captivating, and his opposition, two DEA agents fighting their way through a convoluted mystery, give a scarily real sense of the American efforts to end the war on drugs. Moura is SO convincing that I'd probably spit on him if I ran into him on the street on behalf of the Colombian people -- he's that good at being bad. Narcos' mix of archival footage and contemporary fictionalization keeps you engaged, and reminds you that a literal genocide had to happen just so yuppies could blow coke in the Hamptons during the '80s (only kind of kidding).

Nobel (2016- )

Amid the Homelands and Zero Dark Thirtys of the world, it's easy to forget that the United States decades-long global war on terror is just that: global. The coalition of nations that fought with America in Afghanistan included Norway, and it's in a foreign camp that the show begins with a tense military operation to take out a suspected suicide bomber. Make no mistake, though: This is not a war series, but a political one, focusing on the treacherous ripples terrorism sets off through national politics. In this case, the political implications are told through the lives Erling Riiser (Aksel Hennie), who served in Afghanistan, and his wife, Johanne (Tuva Novotny), a government worker who must navigate the business interests related to Norway's involvement in the region.

The OA (2016- )

If Stranger Things was a little too basic for you, give this wonky sci-fi series from co-creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij a shot. The otherworldly Marling stars as Prairie, a blind woman who returns to society after years in captivity and quickly starts a youth group with some troubled teens. It gets crazier from there. Yes, there's interpretive dance. Yes, there are weird flashbacks to Russia. Yes, it will leave you scratching your head and searching the internet for clues. But sometimes the crazy shows are the ones you love the most.

The Office (2001-2002)

Fans of Dunder Mifflin have Ricky Gervais to thank for the genesis of Michael Scott. This show's the OG, in other words. Though it only ran for two seasons, Gervais' British Office paved the way for a new wave of awkward comedy, turned banal jobs into fertile ground for producing side-splitting workplace laughs, and inspired Greg Daniels and Michael Schur to be their best. It's worth noting that Gervais' original character lives on in Netflix's Life on the Road -- the kind of catch-up project we'd love to see for a certain Agent Michael Scarn.

The Office (2005-2013)

Go ahead and try to prevent your brain from firing off loads of oxytocin as soon as those opening piano notes hit your eardrums. As scenes from Scranton and the Dunder Mifflin office play across the screen, you'll find it difficult to resist falling into a wormhole of nostalgia, knowing all along that (SPOILER) Jim and Pam get together in the end. If you're watching for the first time, you'll understand why so many people fell for Michael Scott and the soft-bellied, straight-faced humor that reinvented network television.

One Day at a Time (2016- )

Like The Ranch, its red state cousin, One Day at a Time is a throwback family sitcom in a world that can be unkind to audience laughter, big comedic performances, and that stage-bound multi-camera look. But single-camera purists should get over their hang-ups. This clever remake of Norman Lear's '70s hit about a single mother raising two teenage daughters is more charming and funny than many of its seemingly "edgier" peers. Anchored by a lived-in performance from Justina Machado (Six Feet Under), the show finds familiar laughs in the way generations clash and families wage war, but it's also culturally specific, socially engaged, and leisurely paced in a way that makes it stand out from your average CBS family show -- or Netflix's own dire Fuller House.

Netflix

Orange Is the New Black (2013- )

The scripted original that put Netflix on the map (sorry, Kevin Spacey!), Orange is a comedy that will make you cry or a drama that will make your sides split, depending on how you want to categorize it. Featuring one of TV's best ensembles made up largely of unknown actresses, Jenji Kohan’s show about life in a women’s prison is full of fascinating, nuanced characters from all walks of life, who elicit empathy even as they make difficult -- sometimes morally reprehensible -- choices in order to get by.

Ozark (2017- )

It's easy to see why early critics compared Ozark to Breaking Bad: Drug money and morally gray characters abound in both. But as Marty Byrde -- a brilliant Chicago-based financial advisor who moves his family to Missouri's Ozarks on a life-or-death deadline to wash truck loads of cash for Mexico's second biggest drug cartel -- Jason Bateman never goes full Heisenberg. In fact, his character's main motivation for doing anything is to protect his family. Along with Bateman, Laura Linney (Marty's wife), Jason Butler Harner (an undercover fed), and Julia Garner (one sketchy family's substitute don) deliver particularly memorable turns to help make this slow-burn work wonders over its tense 10-plus hour runtime. The Byrde saga might not yet be as good as its spiritual forefather, but it's better than a lot of its cousins (even Bloodline!). It'd be a mistake to not give it a shot.

Parks and Recreation (2009-2015)

In the vein of workplace "reality" comedies like The Office, creator Michael Schur's take on a local parks and rec department finds humor in the mundane -- like bosses who take themselves way too seriously. Watching this show now is like being treated to a buffet of comedic royalty; there's Amy Poelher! Adam Scott! Donald Glover! Aubrey Plaza! Aziz Ansari! And more! Their performances cemented Parks and Rec's place in network comedy lore.

Parts Unknown (2013-2018)

CNN's Parts Unknown was obligatory viewing even prior to the recent death of Anthony Bourdain, but the 88 episodes currently available on Netflix (as well as the 8 final episodes yet to be added from the show's currently airing 11th season) now stand as an essential part of the insightful, inquisitive host's legacy. While ostensibly about food, Parts Unknown was more interested with exploring and documenting the ways communities around the country and the world build, nurture and examine themselves.

Peaky Blinders (2013- )

Cillian Murphy stars in this early-20th-century period drama as Thomas Shelby, a World War I vet-turned-patriarchal crime boss who wants to up his family's social and financial status in England. The Shelbys' story plays out as historical fiction, loosely inspired by the exploits of real-life gangs based in Birmingham around the late 1800s and early 1900s. Rivaling bands of thugs clash for underworld influence here in a way that is not unlike on Game of Thrones just on a less fantastical scale: high-stakes political power plays, shady back-room dealings, and gritty tussles abound, with enough blood to rival the Red Wedding. (The show's name comes from the razor blades stitched in the Shelbys' flat caps, after all.) And if you still miss GoT, take comfort in appearances from Locke (Noah Taylor), Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig), and the Night King (Richard Brake).

Planet Earth and Planet Earth 2 (2006; 2017)

It's difficult to convey the splash Planet Earth made when it arrived on American television screens in 2006. Like, holy shit, that great white shark captured in super-slow motion jumping completely out of the ocean as it snapped its jaws down on a seal? No one had seen anything like it before, and each episode felt like a new experience, bringing more attention to the environmental and conservation movements than anything since Silent Spring, no small feat. It's worth a rewatch, because it holds up even after 2017's Planet Earth 2 -- the follow-up features more advanced camera work, but it doesn't quite match the massive scale of the original, because nothing really can.

Portlandia (2011-2018)

Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have been skewering hipster preciousness for years, but it's all coming to an end. Catch up on the series that turned Portland, Oregon into a metonym for twee hipsterdom. Crochet a bird-adorned scarf and snuggle in for a night of self-aware laughs.

The CW

Riverdale (2017- )

A modern CW take on the yuk-yuk teen comic Archie may sound like a shot of arsenic to prestige TV binge-watchers, but with a murder mystery undercurrent, soap drama worthy of The O.C., and a sheen that looks like Twin Peaks by way of 300, Riverdale rises above everything you think you should be watching. Each young actor on the show is a discovery (OK, maybe not Arch himself, but this is why the comics always emphasized "& Friends") and the fully packed episodes earn all the twists and turns. Watch Riverdale and you'll be sifting through grocery store comic shelves in a week.

Robotech (1985)

This is the godfather of anime television in the United States. Robotech -- released as an American adaptation of three unrelated sci-fi robot series -- first introduced American audiences to classic space opera anime tropes. Newcomers should expect awkwardly dubbed accents, silly musical numbers, a sweeping orchestral score, and cosmic battles over some Cold War analogue called "Protoculture." The mixture is potent drama; as Seth Green recently declared: "[Robottech] took its material so seriously and had such gravity….I still remember when [redacted for spoilers] got killed and came home to his girlfriend because he had such vicious internal bleeding, and she was so excited to see him, horrified that he might not have made it through the battle. And then he died in her arms on the couch." Oh, right. It also has transforming robots.

Sacred Games (2018- )

Netflix's first original Indian series is an insanely watchable, not-to-miss cat-and-mouse cop thriller. Based on the 2006 novel by Vikram Chandra, this eight-part series works off of a familiar premise -- determined cop hunts down a high-profile drug kingpin and uncovers ungainly connections and hushed corruption -- set in Mumbai, showing Western audiences that there's way more to Indian entertainment than Bollywood movies.

Scandal (2012-2018)

More often than not, Shonda Rhimes' political crisis management show plays like a stick of dynamite with an abnormally long fuse. Simply put: If you haven't heard Kerry Washington deliver one of Olivia Pope's blistering speeches, you haven't lived.

Shameless (2011- )

A remake of the popular British series of the same name, Shameless follows the patriarch (William H. Macy) of a dysfunctional family as he tries, with very modest success, to keep everyone's lives from totally falling apart. As he struggles to stay sober, his daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum) takes the reigns on raising her five siblings with much disdain for her dead beat dad. Disaster ensues and fires are frequently put out with scrappy plans, giving the show a dramedic leaning that makes bingeing very doable.

Netflix

She's Gotta Have It (2017- )

Nola Darling is an artist, an activist, a Brooklynite, and a sex-positive polyamorous pansexual with three emotionally volatile boyfriends. But who is she? Spike Lee made his directorial debut with 1986's She's Gotta Have It, and 30 years later, expands the character study (with the help of a writer's room including his sister Joie Lee, and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage) into his first TV series, a rhythmic exploration of sex, Brooklyn, and black life. Lee's signature, syncopated style -- bright colors, up-close-and-personal confessionals, jolts of pop music and album art, Bruce Hornsby's melancholy piano filling the gaps -- is intact, tracking Nola through the gentrifying brownstone labyrinth of Fort Greene like an epistolary novel. The joy of the series is in the updated casting, DeWanda Wise's Nola beams with wisdom, fear, artistic knowledge, and carnal desire, while the men and women in her life are fleshed out and… fleshed out, allowing the many sex scenes to play to the senses while reaching for something deeper.

Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014)

Hogs. Guns. Booze. Led by actor Charlie Hunnam, Sons of Anarchy follows members of the eponymous motorcycle club as they wage war in NorCal's underground, one brimming with rival gangs, but devoid of speed limits and order. This is the kind of show where outlaws say shit like, "It isn't easy being king," while wearing lots of leather and sporting tattoos that look like the covers of Avenged Sevenfold albums. It's not all douche central, though, as creator Kurt Sutter makes sure to mix the action with compelling personal tragedies and conflict -- don't sell crank to someone's pregnant ex-wife, for example. You might be surprised how addicted you get to this show, which is well worth the ride.

The Staircase (2004-2018)

Years before the streaming revolution gave viewers unfettered on-demand access to true-crime hits like Making a Murdererand Evil Genius, French director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade gained unprecedented access to North Carolina writer Michael Peterson, who was accused of murdering his wife in 2001. Netflix acquired the rights to the original series and follow-up (get on board with "The Owl Theory!"), and will also release new episodes detailing the case's bizarre twists and turns. The Staircase will almost certainly be the next big summer binge-watch.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

After a string of The Original Series-inspired movies and miscalculations on how to revive the sci-fi franchise for television, Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek boldly went where no concept had gone before with The Next Generation, a shinier, headier, all-around better (yeah, we said it) saga in the United Federation of Planets' history. Led by Patrick Stewart and helped by an iconic supporting cast, The Next Generation followed the TOS mission to speculate about and empathize with social issues of the day, filtered through a lens of A-grade sci-fi writing that stands the test of time.

related

related

Stranger Things (2016- )

If you haven't binged Netflix's '80s paranormal throwback... what gives? It's all your friends talked about last summer, and the second season, due in October, looks bonkers. If you've already done your time in the Upside Down, bide your time with the time-jumping Travelers, the alien-invasion saga Colony, the goofy fantasy series Shannara, and the one-season mind-bender Awake.

Terrace House (2012- )

Call it what you will, Terrace House's brand of neo-anti-no-wave-reality TV show from Japan is back for another installation of its third series (Opening New Doors, following Boys and Girls in the City and Aloha State) with Netflix. A rotating cast of six strangers live in an amazing and huge house together, weathering drama levels ranging from nonexistent to low-level tension, while continuing with their daily lives. They talk about their dreams, respectfully date each other, and do group activities, all of which is filmed and recut for a panel to scrutinize. It might seem like the epitome of boring TV you wouldn't think to watch, but trust us: you want to hop on the Terrace House bandwagon ASAP.

The Twilight Zone (1959-1964)

Every lauded sci-fi movie or television show owes Rod Serling residuals. Over 156 episodes, Serling speculated and dreamed, refracting his present day through the trippiest scenarios to ever beam through mild-mannered American homes. The Twilight Zone’s visual prose took us to jungles, to space, to 20,000ft, and to the sunny block from every person’s childhood, where the worst existential revelations tended to lurk. The Twilight Zone still speaks volumes. Buckle up and fly into a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind.

Twin Peaks (1990-1991)

David Lynch and Mark Frost's detective series is often credited with instilling television with artful potential. Without Twin Peaks, there'd likely be no Mad Men or Breaking Bad, (and both shows nodded to the ABC series). And yet, the show's dreamy, saturated look is really a cherry on top. Twin Peaks is a steady stream of oddball characters and fantastical twists, encountered by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) as he hunts for the murder of a small town teenager. Your weird friends love this show. You should, too. It's finally time to understand those Log Lady Halloween costumes.

Netflix

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015- )

Tina Fey and 30 Rock producer Robert Carlock’s comedy tracks the adventures of an Indiana naïf after she is freed from being held captive by a doomsday cult leader for 15 years -- what a premise! Ellie Kemper plays the freed kidnapping victim, who heads to the Big Apple without a clue on how to exist in the modern world. Luckily, Titus, a penny-pinching, Broadway-belting man in desperate need of a roommate, takes her in and trains her in the art of living. Kimmy Schmidt clings to 30 Rock’s goofy sense of humor and drops the cynicism. Beware: it’ll take three binges just to catch all the jokes.

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Here's the pitch: not one, but two hot vampire brothers. While it premiered back in 2009 at the sparkly peak of Twilight mania, this supernatural teen soap has more in common with co-creator Kevin Williamson's witty '90s work -- Dawson's Creek and Scream -- than it does with Stephenie Meyer's po-faced novels. Based on a series of books by YA writer L. J. Smith, the show brings you into the inner life of a newly orphaned high-schooler named Elena (Nina Dobrev) who gets pursued by sultry, good vamp Stefan (Paul Wesley) and his equally sultry, evil bro Damon (Lost's Ian Somerhalder). There are love triangles, complicated mythology, crazy plot twists, and countless scenes where yokels get bit in the neck by pale guys with great hair. But it's the wry, almost Buffy-like comic tone that keeps you coming back.

The West Wing (1999-2006)

Don't hold The Newsroom against him: Aaron Sorkin's political fable is smarter, funnier, and less bombastic than some of the Oscar-winning screenwriter's later television work. In telling the story of President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his workaholic senior staff, Sorkin found the perfect subject matter for his farcical, monologue-heavy, walk-and-talk style. Though the show lost some of its charm when Sorkin left after the fourth season, the later episodes -- complete with an Obama-like presidential candidate played by Jimmy Smits -- work as a liberal wish-fulfillment fantasy in these very, uh, un-Bartlet-ey times.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) & 10 Years Later (2017)

Reboots and spinoffs often fall flat; not so with Netflix's prequel and sequel to the 2001 cult comedy classic Wet Hot American Summer. The strength of this series is its willingness to poke fun at the very nature of the repetitive, sequel-driven boom TV and movies are experiencing, with the same actors playing the characters they originally portrayed as though no time has passed in the decade-and-a-half since the movie appeared. A-listers Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, and Elizabeth Banks give game performances that are bolstered by new faces like John Slattery and Jordan Peele. The show never makes you feel as though you're participating in a cynical nostalgia play (though, let's face it, you kind of are), and while 10 Years Later took a dip in quality, succumbing to the dopiness of its own premise, the steady laughs have us recommending both seasons.

Wynonna Earp (2016- )

Wynonna Earp is a faster, sexier, funnier show than it has any right to be. The pitch is simple: the great-great-granddaughter of legendary gunslinger Wyatt Earp must lead the charge against an army of zombies. A hero fighting the undead? A badass woman in charge? If you love action TV, this one's for you. Earp totes a gigantic, legendary magic pistol called Peacemaker. She has a bumbling, moronic Justin Bieber-lookalike as a sidekick/comic relief. There are several love triangles with the undead. One of those love triangles happens to involve Doc Holliday in the present. Perhaps the best summary of the show is this one-liner in its pilot: "I am the girl. With the big-ass gun." If you can't get on board, you may not like fun.

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How the 'She-Ra' Showrunner Revamped the Classic Cartoon for Netflix

Noelle Stevenson has left a big cultural footprint for someone years away from her 30th birthday. You might know her as Gingerhaze, her online handle, under which she first posted her viral hipster Lord of the Rings fanart, or you might know her as a co-developer of BOOM! Studios' popular comic series Lumberjanes. You might have seen her credited on issues of Marvel's Thor Annual or Runaways, or maybe you've read her Eisner Award-winning fantasy webcomic-turned-graphic-novel Nimona.

The point is: Noelle Stevenson is everywhere, and now she's the creator, producer, and showrunner of Netflix and DreamWorks' She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, a thoroughly modern reboot of Filmation's 1985 animated He-Man TV show that introduces a whole new generation to the land of Etheria, the magical princesses and their Evil Horde enemies, and the honor of Grayskull. In this version, Horde foot soldier Adora finds herself the newborn avatar of legendary warrior She-Ra -- a warrior who, it turns out, fights for the side she's been trained to fight against.

Noelle Stevenson spoke to Thrillist about updating the show for a new era, and how vital it is for young people to see complicated, diverse characters onscreen.

First off, this has been on my mind since I saw the first images you released: How did you go about redesigning the iconic costume? The new She-Ra has a really distinct look that's a bit different from what She-Ra used to be.Noelle Stevenson: Yeah, early on in the process, I reached out to a lot of illustrators who I found inspirational, who were working in animation or in comics, and asked them to do their takes on the characters, push the boundaries and just get really out there in a way that doesn't even have to work for animation. Throw all the ideas that you have out there, and go crazy with it. We got all these really cool, really different designs from this batch of artists, and then we went through, identified the aspects that were interesting or inspiring to us. There were a few people who made choices that were really cool and different, things I hadn't thought about before that changed the way I thought about the characters. One of our artists was the first to draw Catra [Adora's frenemy who spends the series trying to thwart her former sparring partner] a little smaller in stature, whereas in the original, she was this femme fatale who was curvy like all the other characters. And then it was like, oh, wait, what happens when she's this scrawny, scrappy character? That changes the way she is in my head.

We're doing a sci-fi fantasy world, but we want it to feel distinct. We want to make choices that feel different from what might be the standard fare. The boots were a big thing. So often in fantasy you end up with the same leather boots, or in sci-fi you end up with more rocket boots. So, how do you find the mix between those two things that also feels fresh and new and distinct to our show? One of our awesome artists did these amazing fantasy magic sci-fi sneaker boots, and that's what I immediately wanted to pursue. Eventually it all comes together into the characters that you see -- after getting weighed in on by a lot of people, especially for such an iconic character -- and then polished and honed until it's animate-able and it feels like something that fits in our world.

The Most Festive Things to Do in Boston for the Holidays

The countdown has begun. Wait, no, the countdown is over, because the holiday season is totally upon us. So skip the Scroogism and spend the next six weeks embracing the city in all its cheesy, unironic, brightly lit holiday glory. Sure, that’s a lot of shopping, eating, drinking, caroling, and oohing and ahhing at decorations, but we know you have it in you. Here is everything you must do in Boston during the holiday season.

Paramount Pictures

Entertainment

The Director of 'Overlord' Spills the Secrets of His Bloody WWII Horror Movie

When director Julius Avery was a boy, his grandfather used to show him medals, disarmed grenades, and bullets he kept from his time serving in the North African campaign during World War II. As a movie-obsessed kid, he was completely fixated by his granddad's stories and his photo albums, which transported him to a different era. When he became a filmmaker, he knew he wanted to make a war movie one day, but he had no idea it would be a completely bonkers one like Overlord, his new J.J. Abrams-produced combat-horror movie.

By splicing together men-on-a-mission war movies with the splatter-filled carnage of a first-person shooter, Overlord feels like the result of a lab experiment gone haywire. From its gripping opening sequence, which finds nervous recruit Private Ed Boyce (Jovan Adepo) getting ready to leap from a plane before getting sucked out into the air, to its flame-kissed finale, where a severely disfigured Nazi captain (Pilou Asbæk) does battle with a wild-eyed paratrooper (Wyatt Russell), the movie doesn't pause to dwell on the tangled secrets of its alternate-history setup or the nitty-gritty details of its gruesome pulp plot. Instead, Avery keeps his foot on the gas.

On the phone from California the day of the film's release, the chatty Australian said he wanted to make a movie best dissected over a giant plate of nachos afterwards. In that spirit, we asked him to break down some of Overlord's wildest moments, creepiest sights, and lingering questions. Provide your own nachos.